With his fourth feature film, Andrea Pallaoro turns his fascination with isolation, fractured identity and the difficult mechanics of human connection toward a story of love, addiction and control. Without the safety net of working on his screenplay, the works from the oeuvre that was signed by Bernardo Bertolucci that our Nicholas Bell describes as “a chamber piece on the blurred lines between dichotomies, where something initially positive can quickly evolve into something toxic or negative, it’s a sometimes morose but ultimately poignant analysis of artistic endeavor as a potential salvation when our mortal shortcomings sabotage our best intentions.” The Echo Chamber confines Luca Marinelli’s music producer Leo and Alicia Vikander’s Anne to a single London apartment, where a relationship built on care gradually blurs into dependency, obsession and possession, while Susan Sarandon’s aging singer Ava provides another perspective on intimacy, art and the traces people leave behind.
At the Venice Film Festival I had the chance to speak to the Italian filmmaker about liberating himself from the screenplay, working with his cinematographer and editor to create extreme intimacy and the blue-print for Sarandon’s character. The Echo Chamber will next premiere at the BFI London Film Festival and Chicago International Film Festivals.
